[Carpal tunnel syndrome? Case report]. / ¿Síndrome del tunel carpiano? Case report.

A patient with an initial misdiagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome is presented. The clinical manifestations were suggestive of such diagnosis, but there were some anamnesis and exploratory aspects requiring to establish a differential diagnosis. Painful syndrome was caused by a brachial plexus compression at the costoclavicular region due to a subclavicular hematoma in a patient under anticoagulant treatment. Carpal tunnel pathology is a frequent cause of neuropathy, however others diagnosis should be ruled out as shown in the present case.

¿Síndrome del tunel carpiano? Case report / ¿Carpal tunnel syndrome? Case report

Presentamos el caso de una paciente diagnosticada erróneamente de un síndrome del túnel carpiano. Las manifestaciones clínicas fueron sugestivas de dicho diagnóstico, pero con unas particularidades anamnésicas y exploratorias que merecen comentarios al hacer un diagnóstico diferencial. El origen del síndrome doloroso se debía a la existencia de un hematoma de localización subclavicular en una paciente en tratamiento con anticoagulantes y que originaba una compresión del plexo braquial a nivel del desfiladero costoclavicular. Consideramos de interés práctico este caso que aportamos, por cuanto la patología del túnel carpiano es una de las neuropatías por atrapamiento nervioso más frecuentes en la clínica diaria y debe de hacernos pensar en otros posibles diagnósticos que aquí revisamos (AU)

A maize insulin-like growth factor signals to a transduction pathway that regulates protein synthesis in maize.

Insulin and insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are well-characterized regulators in higher eukaryotic cells that control biological processes such as cell growth and survival, and selective translation of mRNAs. This research presents the purification of a 20 kDa protein, isolated from maize tissue, with IGF activity. The protein was purified from 48 h-germinated maize embryonic axes by G-50 Sephadex fractionation followed by affinity chromatography through a bovine insulin antibody-Sepharose column. This protein proved to significantly speed up maize germination and seedling growth. At the molecular level, Zea mays IGF (ZmIGF) enhanced phosphorylation of S6 ribosomal protein (rp) on the 40 S ribosomal subunit, in a similar way as observed when bovine insulin is applied to maize axes during germination. Rapamycin, a specific inhibitor of the insulin-stimulated signal transduction pathway, prevented S6 rp phosphorylation in maize axes. Moreover, ZmIGF stimulated [(35)S]methionine incorporation into rps, above the level of overall cytoplasmic proteins. Either incubation with anti-insulin antibody, heat treatment (60 degrees C) or trypsin digestion abolished this ZmIGF effect. It is proposed that ZmIGF is an endogenous maize growth factor that regulates the synthesis of specific proteins through a pathway similar to that of insulin or IGFs in animal tissues.

[Symptomatic chronic hemichorea of a vascular lesion in the contralateral putamen]. / Hemicorea crónica sintomática de una lesión vascular en el putamen contralateral.

We present a case of chronic multifocal choreform dyskinesia with evident anatomical and temporal relationship with a contralateral putamen lesion of ischaemic origin after embolism originating in a partially thrombosed intracavernous caratid aneurysm. Isolated putamen lesions are associated with abnormal dystonic type involuntary movements, bilateral to Parkinsonisms, sometimes associating both these types of movements, and lesions involving the cauda giving rise to choreic movements. Given the rarity in the literature of this entity, chorea associated with unilateral ischaemic putamen lesion, and the absence of pathogenic mechanisms which might satisfactorily explain it, we propose a series of possibilities which could underlie this type of chorea. If putamen macroscopic lesions are really more associated with dystonic manifestations, it is possible that, in some cases they might selectively alter base ganglia circuits and bring on chronic choreas rather than dystonia.

Infection of BALB/c, C57B1/6 mice and F1 hybrid CB6F1 mice with strains of Leishmania mexicana isolated from Mexican patients with localized or diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Mice from the syngeneic strains BALB/c, C57B1/6 and (BALB/cxC57B1/6)F1 hybrids (CB6F1) were infected in the footpad with six different strains of Leishmania mexicana mexicana isolated from Mexican patients. Three Leishmania strains were isolated from patients with localized cutaneous leishmaniasis (LCL, the benign form of the disease) and three from patients with diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (DCL, the malignant form of the disease). In BALB/c mice, four Leishmania strains showed a sustained fast growth from 4 to 5 weeks postinfection until the end of the experiment (15 weeks), and the other two grew slowly up to 10 or 12 weeks after infection and then started to grow faster. In C57B1/6 mice four Leishmania strains showed a limited to moderate growth up to 6 to 11 weeks postinfection and then started to decrease. One strain showed a moderate growth during the entire experiment and one strain grew as fast as in BALB/c mice up to 11 weeks postinfection and then started to decrease. The CB6F1 hybrid behaved like the C57B1/6 parent strain with five Leishmania strains but was much more resistant to one Leishmania strain than the C57B1/6 mice. Sex of the mouse did not influence the outcome of infection. One important purpose of this work was to see if the Leishmania strains that cause DCL are intrinsically more virulent than those that cause the benign form (LCL). Although important variations in virulence among the Leishmania strains were observed, especially in BALB/c mice, they were not correlated with the type of disease caused in humans.